Consumer unit change

[Emptyy]

Hi,
I'm a recently qualified electrician and my parents need their consumer unit replacing as they are having a new bathroom and they currently have an old rewirable fuse board so obviously no electrical work can be carried out to it.

The installation has no bonding present and 16mm tales (This would need rectifying)

I don't belong to any regulatory body such as the NIC and work as a maintenance engineer at a hospital, my question is upon replacing the consumer unit and testing what do I do in regards to certification? If I dont belong to the NIC etc then can I still issue a certificate and sign the work off somehow?

May be a daft question but I'm very recently qualified so not had to encounter this stuff yet.

Thanks.

 

[ChrisElectrical88]

16mm tails might be ok. It woukd need to be certified and Part Peed.

Alternately, replace the board, do the bonding, test it. Fudge the cert and part pee bit off as its ypur parents house and its had that board changed by someone else wink wink

 

[Deleted account]

Yes you can do it, but you would either have to get building control in to check at each stage of install or get a 3rd party sign off. Niceic electricians are not permitted to do this, but I think some napit spark are.

 

[Pete999]

Yes you can do it, but you would either have to get building control in to check at each stage of install or get a 3rd party sign off. Niceic electricians are not permitted to do this, but I think some napit spark are.

Makes a bit of a farce of the co-operation of CPS Schemes if that is the case doesn't it

 

[Snailspark]

Hi,
I'm a recently qualified electrician and my parents need their consumer unit replacing as they are having a new bathroom and they currently have an old rewirable fuse board so obviously no electrical work can be carried out to it.

The installation has no bonding present and 16mm tales (This would need rectifying)

I don't belong to any regulatory body such as the NIC and work as a maintenance engineer at a hospital, my question is upon replacing the consumer unit and testing what do I do in regards to certification? If I dont belong to the NIC etc then can I still issue a certificate and sign the work off somehow?

May be a daft question but I'm very recently qualified so not had to encounter this stuff yet.

Thanks.

You have to notify building control (for a fee - I think it’s around £140 a time) - they will sign it off but you would need to do all the certification yourself which they will check too.

 

[Deleted member 105166]

@ChrisElectrical88 doing this could well come back and bite if/when (a) something goes wrong or (b) when the house is next sold. Even though the OP has a PAYE job, if he is going to do this, he should have his own relevant liability insurance "just in case". I don't agree with stitching anyone up, and certainly not your own parents!

 

[Spoon]

As an alternative to changing the CU, you could always just add a small CU next to the original one and wire the new bathroom to this.
Yes, replacing the existing CU would be better.

 

[Emptyy]

Would you advise me to do the board change then (as well as installing the bonding) and get a friend of mine who is in the NIC to test and certify it?

 

[Deleted member 105166]

Would you advise me to do the board change then (as well as installing the bonding) and get a friend of mine who is in the NIC to test and certify it?

Why not do it together?

 

[Spoon]

Would you advise me to do the board change then (as well as installing the bonding) and get a friend of mine who is in the NIC to test and certify it?

@Paignton pete says the NIC are not allowed to do what you are asking.
As @TonyMitchell has said, why not do the job with your mate.

 

[richy3333]

Would you advise me to do the board change then (as well as installing the bonding) and get a friend of mine who is in the NIC to test and certify it?

Thats not permitted under NICEIC rules. If your mate is found out then he would probably be black balled by them ?

 

[Emptyy]

Well that's what would be happening, obviously ??

 

[Phil L]

Get your mate to give you a hand, treat it as a training exercise and chuck him some beer tokens to register it,

Job done

 

[Deleted member 105166]

You'll be grateful of your mate's input in doing the work together if he's an experienced spark, particularly as your OP suggests this will be your first CU replacement. It's pretty much guaranteed you'll run into issues and have to make decisions along the way, which is where his experience will be invaluable and you'll learn a lot from him. A replacement of something old with short tails, in a less than ideal working position, when you're up against time getting power back on, is very different to doing it in the controlled environment of a spacious, well lit practice booth with new cable.

 

[Deleted account]

Makes a bit of a farce of the co-operation of CPS Schemes if that is the case doesn't it

Yes it does.
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Would you advise me to do the board change then (as well as installing the bonding) and get a friend of mine who is in the NIC to test and certify it?

Niceic are not permitted to do 3rd party certification. Only napit as far as I am aware have the appropriate certification for 3rd party.